Kit Checkhttp://kitcheck.com
Faster, Safer and Friendlier Medication TrackingTue, 03 Mar 2015 16:32:18 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1The Ripple Effect of Drug Shortageshttp://kitcheck.com/2015/02/ripple-effect-drug-shortages/
http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/ripple-effect-drug-shortages/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 15:25:41 +0000http://kitcheck.com/?p=7115Drug shortages will continue to be a big story in 2015. In Drug Topics’ 2015 Business Outlook Survey, drug shortages came in as the number one challenge for hospital pharmacies. This is one of the reasons why Kit Check prioritized making shortage management easier for pharmacy kits.

Drug shortages will continue to be a big story in 2015. In Drug Topics’ 2015 Business Outlook Survey, drug shortages came in as the number one challenge for hospital pharmacies, with over 77% identifying it as an issue.Last year I wrote about the fact that shortages were not only increasing, but their duration were also expanding. With over 300 drugs still listed as being in short supply by the FDA, there have been more articles about the impact on patients and doctors. What is lost in these discussions is the impact on the hospital pharmacy. It is significant.

The Multiple Burdens of Shortage Management

There are three stages of shortage management for hospital pharmacies:

Identification

Planning

Managing

In the identification stage, pharmacy and purchasing staff are assessing the availability of various drugs, the current levels of inventory, and expected usage. Once a drug is identified as either in shortage or at risk, the group must then enter the planning stage and determine how the hospital will prioritize usage and which substitutes are appropriate.

Early in my career, these types of discussions were infrequent. In my most recent position as a DoP, we held these meetings weekly to address the constant state of drug shortages. At some hospitals, the situation is so severe that they hold similar meetings multiple times per week. This is a hidden cost of shortages that consumes pharmacist time that could be applied to patient intervention or other critical pharmacy tasks.

Day-to-day Burdens

The identification and planning stages are more than mere inconveniences. However, the operational aspects of shortage management are a daily burden. Pharmacists need to continually consult with physicians and update their orders. Patient interventions become more complicated when existing regimens must be modified. Physicians need more support as the variety of therapeutic interactions increases and changes as drugs come on and off of shortage.

The Direct Impact on Pharmacy Kits

In addition, routine dispensing tasks such as OR suite and pharmacy kit drug restocking become increasingly complicated. Kit Check is now used in more than 150 hospitals and that provides insight into how often shortages impact pharmacy kits. A recent comparison of the current ASHP drug shortage list with pharmacy kit inventory masters in Kit Check indicates that 39% of shortages are currently impacting kits. This is not theoretical. It is actual field data. Two out of every five shortages are now impacting hospital pharmacy kits. That number is much higher than most people would predict and it has an operational impact that increases workload, complexity and risk of error.

Source: Kit Check Hospital Usage Data

Normally, kit restocking follows a predictable pattern. However, when substitutes are involved due to shortages, technicians and pharmacists must continually adjust to changing inventory requirements. What was typically three 10 ml vials, becomes two 20 ml vials. What was previously one drug, becomes another. And, it can change week-to-week, even day-to-day. Pharmacy leadership is continually striving to improve efficiency. The daily variances caused by shortages undermine these efforts and make it hard for the benefits of organizational learning to take root.

A Tool to Ease the Drug Shortage Burden

Shortages are clearly not going away. In fact, industry dynamics make it likely that shortages will become worse before the frequency finally decreases. That is why Kit Check prioritized making shortage management easier for pharmacy kits. In a manual system, it is difficult to constantly update your pharmacy technicians on what the appropriate substitutes are each week for medications on shortage. Even an automated system can be difficult because the software will have standard expectations or templates for kit configurations. Updating the kit masters frequently to account for shortages increases the risk of error and is more work for staff.

Kit Check is the only solution meeting both the standards for automation and for a feature that makes it easy to designate alternates that remain in place whether or not a shortage is in effect. In Kit Check, you can set the standard kit master with all of the desired drugs and quantities and also set alternate quantities and drugs for substitutes or update them with a couple of mouse clicks as needed. The system automatically recognizes when an appropriate alternate is added to a kit and if an inappropriate substitution is made. When shortages arise, there is no extra work involved because the system knows the alternate drugs or quantities are approved.

In the case of extremely limited supply, many pharmacy managers will instruct technicians to go to all of the kits and remove the drug on shortage so it can be rationed for the highest priority uses from a central stock. This process is inefficient and often involves returning all pharmacy kits to the pharmacy to look for shortage drugs. Kit Check provides a report with up-to-date information on which kits contain the shortage drug and where they are located on the floor, so they can be easily and efficiently retrieved.

In addition, all of the stocking data is tracked throughout the year so you can see how the inventory changed and was managed over time. The solution not only streamlines day-to-day tasks and improves restocking efficiency; it also provides insight that can help you improve over time.

More Efficient and Accurate Shortage Management Features

Drug shortages are a pernicious problem for the hospital pharmacy. Beyond the patient and physician impact, pharmacies bear the brunt of increased workload that shortages entail. Kit Check is playing a part in helping ease the burden of managing shortages and maintaining pharmacy efficiency. If you have questions about how Kit Check can improve your shortage management practices, feel free to reach out at info@kitcheck.com.

]]>http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/ripple-effect-drug-shortages/feed/0Kit Check Deployment Manager Profile: Max Weinerhttp://kitcheck.com/2015/02/kit-check-deployment-manager-profile-max-weiner/
http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/kit-check-deployment-manager-profile-max-weiner/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 18:46:36 +0000http://kitcheck.com/?p=7102Where are you from? Maryland Education University of Michigan Experience in healthcare I’ve done customer experience consulting for healthcare companies, worked on go-to market strategies for public exchanges, and have had an ABSURD amount of personal injuries that required medical attention. Describe your specific role in deployments After the sales hand-off, I work directly with […]

Where are you from?

Maryland

Education

University of Michigan

Experience in healthcare

I’ve done customer experience consulting for healthcare companies, worked on go-to market strategies for public exchanges, and have had an ABSURD amount of personal injuries that required medical attention.

Describe your specific role in deployments

After the sales hand-off, I work directly with the customer to prepare them for us to come onsite, install the system, teach end users, and ensure their success with Kit Check.

Personal philosophy for deployments

The customer is always right, manage expectations, ensure clear communication and make sure they are 100% comfortable with the system.

A memorable deployment story

One of my favorite aspects of go-lives is creating a streamlined process for filling trays with Kit Check drugs, scanning them and deploying them. Although the process is repeated at every go-live, there are always variables to account for, such as resource availability, drug availability and physical room availability. While helping UCSF get ready for the opening of their new hospital, we not only had all the space we needed and all the drugs we needed, but also an extraordinarily hardworking, dedicated staff.

We had to start from scratch, putting in the tray inlays, labeling the drug pockets and the trays themselves. We were able to lay out about 25 trays across the counters and walk around clockwise, filling in the various drugs. Throughout the course of two days, we set every tray up for deployment and took a lot of weight off the pharmacy staff as they got ready for the official opening. In total, we did around 150 trays. It is not every day that you get to work in such a spacious environment, with all the necessary resources available. Not to mention, it was awesome walking around in a brand new hospital that hadn’t been opened yet.

Interests outside of Kit Check

Live music, saxophone (I don’t play), cycling, cooking, and most things involving the University of Michigan.

If you have to sing a karaoke song, what would you choose?

]]>http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/kit-check-deployment-manager-profile-max-weiner/feed/0Kit Check Co-founders Receive Two High-Profile Awardshttp://kitcheck.com/2015/02/kit-check-co-founders-receive-two-high-profile-awards/
http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/kit-check-co-founders-receive-two-high-profile-awards/#commentsTue, 17 Feb 2015 17:43:52 +0000http://kitcheck.com/?p=7096In the past month, Kit Check was proud to have its founders named as recipients of two high-profile awards in the entrepreneurial community.

In the past month, Kit Check was proud to have its founders named as recipients of two high-profile awards in the entrepreneurial community, including Rock Health’s Top 50 in Digital Health and DC Tech’s Top 40 Under 40.

Top 50 in Digital Health

In January, Kit Check co-founder and CEO Kevin MacDonald was named to Rock Health’s Top 50 in Digital Health. Rock Health selects entrepreneurs pushing the boundaries of technology innovation to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes. The event took place concurrently with the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference 2015 in San Francisco. Rock Health honored the Top 50 in Digital Health at their annual reception which was co-sponsored by Fenwick & West and Goldman Sachs. Among those honored in 2015 included Evolent Health’s Frank Williams, Beth Seidenberg of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers. Kit Check’s other co-founder Tim Kress-Spatz made the 2013 list.

Washington DC’s Top Entrepreneurs Under 40

Co-founders Kevin MacDonald and Tim Kress-Spatz were also named to the DC region’s 40 Under 40 list, honoring Washington DC’s top young entrepreneurs. In covering the awards, Bisnow commented, “They’re young, they take risks, they’re not afraid to be disruptive, and they’ve found a way to fix things with technology.” The judges were impressed by Kit Check’s work to automate the hospital pharmacy and provide more integrated solutions for hospitals. Recipients were honored at a reception co-hosted by Disruption Corp, Vornado, Merrill Lynch, NVTC, Bisnow Media, KPMG, among others.

]]>http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/kit-check-co-founders-receive-two-high-profile-awards/feed/0Kit Check Product Delivery Manager Profile: Tyler Robertsonhttp://kitcheck.com/2015/02/product-delivery-manager-profile-tyler-robertson/
http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/product-delivery-manager-profile-tyler-robertson/#commentsThu, 12 Feb 2015 13:34:45 +0000http://kitcheck.com/?p=7074Where are you from? North Carolina Education Bachelors of Science in Public Health and a Master’s of Health Administration from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) Experience in healthcare Prior to joining Kit Check, I worked in Performance Improvement and Quality Improvement for a large academic medical center and then a pediatric […]

Where are you from?

Education

Bachelors of Science in Public Health and a Master’s of Health Administration from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill (Go Heels!)

Experience in healthcare

Prior to joining Kit Check, I worked in Performance Improvement and Quality Improvement for a large academic medical center and then a pediatric hospital.

Describe your specific role in deployments

I lead the implementation of the Kit Check solution. This spans weekly planning calls, equipment set up on site, user training during the implementation and post-implementation check-ins.

Personal philosophy for deployments

My approach to every deployment can be summarized as: “always have fun.”

Whether it be jamming out to music during a tagging visit, getting restaurant recommendations or bringing Starbucks to help power through a night shift, making the customer happy while having fun is my number one goal.

My favorite phrases I hear from customers when on site are, “This is so easy and fun!” and, “That’s all we have to do? This is like magic!”

A memorable deployment story

One memorable customer this past year was Yale-New Haven Hospitals in New Haven, CT. The staff immediately picked up the technology during my first visit. Once I returned for the go-live, we hit the ground running (literally) through a maze of underground tunnels delivering all 200 trays in one day. A long but record-breaking day!

Interests outside of Kit Check

Tennis, Live Music, Exploring (new countries, new restaurants, even new commute routes home)

If you have to sing a karaoke song, what would you choose?

If you have to sing a karaoke song, what would you choose? I have a propensity for 90’s pop ballads. Specifically, Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy,” albeit I never come close to hitting those high notes.

]]>http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/product-delivery-manager-profile-tyler-robertson/feed/0More Customer Services for Kit Check Users in 2015http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/customer-services-kit-check-users-2015/
http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/customer-services-kit-check-users-2015/#commentsTue, 10 Feb 2015 13:43:13 +0000http://kitcheck.com/?p=7075It’s been busy since we last checked in from the Kit Check customer service division. Our customer service capabilities have continued to improve as we work to keep pace with Kit Check’s rapid growth characterized by: Increasing our number of hospitals to 150 Tracking over 3.9 million medications Serving 6,300 users Saving hospital pharmacies over […]

It’s been busy since we last checked in from the Kit Check customer service division. Our customer service capabilities have continued to improve as we work to keep pace with Kit Check’s rapid growth characterized by:

New People, New Tools to Improve Support

Throughout our user growth, the support team has maintained our primary obsession: making sure every hospital is well supported and treated like an important partner. To accommodate Kit Check user growth, we’ve added three new support team members. These are the people who are on the other end of the line when you call or email the 24/7 support line. Peter Espinosa, Gabe Fuentes, and Amanda Howard have quickly built up expertise on the ins and outs of supporting Kit Check’s hospital pharmacy automation solution. When you need support, you can be assured the person helping you focuses 100% of their time supporting users of Kit Check’s solutions.

The support team has also added new tools to improve our customer service processes. The Kayako support ticketing system enables us to more efficiently track your requests through resolution and address common questions more quickly by consulting our extensive knowledge base. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve closed 263 support requests with an average resolution time of 2 hours over email. Phone requests are resolved in an average of 4 minutes.

Using Data to Provide More Value

In addition to our ticketing system, we have added a big data visualization and analysis tool to conduct more in-depth analyses across our user base and provide new insights down to the kit and medication level. The data analysis tools have allowed us to unlock new benefits for Kit Check users and led to some of the most exciting support team projects. Historically, few pharmacy directors contemplated that pharmacy kit usage would be considered big data or even that analysis of smaller data sets could provide insight into improvements in kit processing, kit configurations and medication inventory. That is changing. We frequently support customer inquiries and their needs for data extraction, visualization, and business intelligence.

Recently, the most common requests have revolved around kit throughput. We’ve worked with a number of hospitals interested in seeing how many kits they are processing per day, week, or month, which items have the highest usage velocity and which are most likely to be wasted due to expiration. This helps pharmacy managers make decisions about reducing kit inventory and even the required staffing levels to maintain kits. Quite often, hospitals realize that they are able to reduce the number of kits that they have in circulation due to the amount of time they save in kit restocking. Without hard data, hospitals previously were not able to understand these trends that you can see clearly with Kit Check.

The Many Benefits of Cloud Software

Being a cloud-based software solution helps customers visualize their data as well. We’re able to slice and dice data in many different ways and even aggregate information across multiple hospital sites for system-wide views. Are you curious about something that isn’t a standard Kit Check report today? We can typically comb through the data and give you the exact metrics you need.

Most users never consider that Kit Check is run in the cloud with the latest software technology. When they open up a browser to launch the software, they know that Kit Check is easy to use and works reliably. It may not occur to them that the software is not on that particular PC, but instead resides in the cloud like many of the personal apps they use everyday. This allows us to provide the data analysis services mentioned above and to address technical issues remotely. It also allows us to push new features to everyone immediately. This ensures that multi-site users all have the same software running at each location and that every user has the latest capabilities at their disposal.

Give us a call if you have any questions or would like to find out more about our reporting capabilities. We’re always here for you.

Three years ago we were still developing Kit Check software in advance of our first customer installation at the University of Maryland Medical Center. It wasn’t clear at that time if there was a market for automating medication tracking and processing in hospitals. Nor was it clear that Kit Check would have much of an impact on the industry.

Infographic Tells the Story of Industry Adoption

Today, we published an infographic that walks through how much Kit Check users employed our solution between 2012-2014. Why might you care about this? If you are a Kit Check customer, you can see how you contributed to what has become an industry movement to automation and away from the error prone and time-consuming practice of manual pharmacy kit restocking.

If you are not a Kit Check customer today, you might be interested in how rapidly hospitals have been able to take advantage of Kit Check’s automation benefits and how effectively the solution has scaled to large volumes of use. And, a broader audience might be interested to learn how effectively a cloud-based solution can be adopted in a hospital setting.

The Numbers

Readers of this blog know that 144 represents the number of hospitals that adopted Kit Check through December 31, 2014. You may also have guessed that 3.4 million is the number of medications tracked with Kit Check’s cloud software and RFID-based solution. To learn the meaning of the other numbers, click here or on the image.

It is gratifying to know that there is a market for solving the problem of pharmacy kit processing, that we are delivering benefits everyday to hospital pharmacies, and that customers have the confidence in Kit Check to ask for help solving additional challenges related to anesthesia medications. Even as we look back on 2014, Team Kit Check is even more excited about working with you in 2015.

]]>http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/kit-check-numbers/feed/0Consistency and Control in the Pharmacyhttp://kitcheck.com/2015/02/consistency-control-pharmacy/
http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/consistency-control-pharmacy/#commentsTue, 03 Feb 2015 18:25:17 +0000http://kitcheck.com/?p=7041When you are running a hospital pharmacy you oversee two broad categories of activity: dispensing and clinical. The clinical tasks can be tough to systematize. This is where the training and experience of registered pharmacists are at their maximum value. There are controls you can put into place, but you recognize that clinical activities are […]

When you are running a hospital pharmacy you oversee two broad categories of activity: dispensing and clinical. The clinical tasks can be tough to systematize. This is where the training and experience of registered pharmacists are at their maximum value. There are controls you can put into place, but you recognize that clinical activities are subject to high variability in type and complexity. As a result, any single clinical task is characterized by its uniqueness and often by a low frequency of occurrence.

By contrast, dispensing tasks tend to have low variability and complexity. They are defined by repetition and frequency. You would think that you would see more errors in the highly complex, highly variable tasks that occur infrequently. In practice you may have noticed that the opposite is more often true. How can this be? When you have highly trained personnel repeatedly performing simple tasks, they can become easily distracted and even inclined to cut corners.

Manual Pharmacy Kit Restocking is Defined by Inconsistency

One area where inconsistency occurs at a high rate is hospital pharmacy kit restocking. It is not uncommon for hospitals to have 5% error rates in their kits. Errors range from expired medications to wrong drugs, concentrations or sizes. Restocking kits may be tedious, but it is not complicated. You simply need to replace missing items based on stocking list and also replace any remaining medications that are nearing expiration. In most states, a registered pharmacist must then check the kit for accuracy.

Let’s face it; pharmacists didn’t go to school to learn to check kits for accuracy. They are trained for more complex tasks and whether it’s from overconfidence, lax processes or disinterest, errors occur at an unacceptably high rate. Automating your kit restocking and verification process can reduce errors while allowing your pharmacy staff to focus on more complex clinical activities.

Kit Check Provides Greater Consistency

As a hospital pharmacy director, I always wanted to establish process consistency. This helped reduce the risk of error, made it easier for staff to follow policy, and typically improved operational efficiency. Since kit restocking is often performed by many different pharmacy technicians and pharmacists and is done in batches, there is room for significant variability in execution. This variability makes it harder for pharmacy teams to consistently work efficiently together and nearly impossible to determine the source of errors when they arise. Thankfully software-driven automation can be used to systematize the process and track and document each step.

Kit Check provides a great deal of flexibility in matching the software to existing kit restocking processes. However, once configured, it provides a consistent approach to kit restocking. Not only are kit contents verified during every restock, but expiration dates are also automatically checked. And, lot numbers are simultaneously verified to ensure no recalled items remain in kits. The check by the software is conducted both before restocking and afterward to ensure kit errors do not reach the floor. The entire checking process only takes about 5 seconds because of the efficiency that comes from combining RFID technology with cloud-based software.

You can also set up the solution to print a comprehensive charge / inventory sheet before kits are returned for use, track the location they are dispatched to, and record who handled the kit during restocking and verification steps. One of the great benefits of Kit Check is the ability to enforce process consistency while streamlining work tasks.

Kit Check Enables Greater Control

As a pharmacy operations manager or director, enhanced consistency offers some peace of mind. Beyond that, it also improves controls. For example, the system can prohibit kits from being dispatched to clinical areas unless a pharmacist has logged into the software and verified the contents. If there is a question about a kit’s contents and location, a simple report can reveal what steps were taken, when, by whom and where the kit has traveled.

In a sometimes chaotic environment, these controls can help reduce issues, resolve issues more quickly when they arise, and provide more time to focus on other pressing challenges. You want efficiency, consistency and control in dispensing tasks so pharmacists can focus on the more complex clinical activities. Kit Check helps over 100 U.S. hospitals bring these qualities to pharmacy kit restocking and management.

]]>http://kitcheck.com/2015/02/consistency-control-pharmacy/feed/0484,000 Things You Can Avoid this Year with Kit Checkhttp://kitcheck.com/2015/01/484000-things-you-can-avoid-with-kit-check/
http://kitcheck.com/2015/01/484000-things-you-can-avoid-with-kit-check/#commentsThu, 29 Jan 2015 16:02:15 +0000http://kitcheck.com/?p=7030In September, I posted an article that stated manual pharmacy kit restocking was slow, tedious and error prone. Today, I want to give you some new numbers that bring this situation to life.

In September, I posted an article here that stated manual pharmacy kit restocking was slow, tedious and error prone. Today, I want to give you some new numbers that bring this situation to life. State Board of Pharmacy and Joint Commission standards require that no expired or incorrect medication be administered to a patient. One area where there is high risk of expired medications is pharmacy kits. As a result, every medication that remains in a kit is supposed to be checked for expiration when kits return to the pharmacy for restocking.

Kit Check automates this process. Instead of individually picking up 30 or more vials from a returned kit and checking each for expiration, the solution completes the entire process in about five seconds. It identifies if any items are nearing expiration and these can be restocked along with the medications that were used during the procedure. It seems like a little thing, but it is a lot of little things that really add up.

33 Million Tasks Eliminated in 2014

Lean Management Principles focus on minimizing waste. That could be reducing the amount of medications wasted due to expiration, carrying of excess inventory or the wasted motion associated with repeatedly picking up vials to check expiry. Kit Check is widely appreciated by users because it both automates the pharmacy kit restocking process and measures it.

Based on those measures, we know that Kit Check eliminated over 33 million manual expiration checks in 2014. For some larger hospitals that automation meant several million manual expiration checks were avoided and for even the smallest hospitals it was nearly 100,000. The average Kit Check user eliminated 484,000 manual expiration checks last year. This represented a lot of wasted motion that is no longer required.

Just as important, all of those checks still occurred. The expiration checks were simply automated by Kit Check and at the same time created a higher level of accuracy than manual checks by humans. At ASHP Midyear in 2013, the University of Maryland presented a poster that showed 5% of manually stocked pharmacy kits contained errors. How do we typically try to prevent these errors when using a manual process? We have pharmacy techs and pharmacists check a lot of drug expiration dates – one at a time. That is an expensive process that still yields an unacceptably high error rate. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Reducing Risk and Medication Waste

In addition, Kit Check users have found that automating the expiration check also helps reduce patient risk and medication waste due to expiration. Managers routinely run inventory expiration reports that indicate which kit medications are nearing expiration and where they are located. This allows them to pull those medications before expiration so they don’t cause potential patient risk. It is important to catch expiring drugs during the restocking process, but we all know some kits sit on the floor for a long time. Kit Check provides visibility that is typically missing when employing manual kit stocking processes.

Also, when you pull drugs from kits prior to expiration you can often reallocate them to other areas so they can be used before being wasted. This visibility results in hard dollar savings for many Kit Check customers that proactively use the system to cut medication waste costs.

Avoiding Fines and Other Challenges

Last week a pharmacy manager commented that if regulator is looking to find an error to highlight, they simply check the expiration dates on your kit medications. If you have manual processes, it is an easy place to quickly find errors. One Kit Check user adopted the system right after receiving a fine for kit stocking errors.

Aside from errors, expiration checking is an unnoticed burden that adds up to thousands of unproductive labor hours each year in hospital pharmacies. Whether you are looking to implement lean management in your pharmacy, avoid fines or save cost, you may have 484,000 reasons to implement pharmacy kit automation in 2015.

]]>http://kitcheck.com/2015/01/484000-things-you-can-avoid-with-kit-check/feed/0Kit Check Account Manager Profile: Morgan DeAntoniohttp://kitcheck.com/2015/01/kit-check-account-manager-profile-morgan-deantonio/
http://kitcheck.com/2015/01/kit-check-account-manager-profile-morgan-deantonio/#commentsFri, 23 Jan 2015 14:38:53 +0000http://kitcheck.com/?p=7025Hometown Charleston, South Carolina Most of my accounts are located in: The Northeast and Florida Education Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies with a minor in Business Administration from The University of Tennessee Experience in healthcare Prior to Kit Check, I have two years of experience assisting with shortage management in hospital pharmacies. I built […]

Hometown

Most of my accounts are located in:

The Northeast and Florida

Education

Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies with a minor in Business Administration from The University of Tennessee

Experience in healthcare

Prior to Kit Check, I have two years of experience assisting with shortage management in hospital pharmacies. I built relationships with pharmacy purchasers and directors while learning about the different processes in the pharmacy and some of the aches and pains of managing a pharmacy.

Personal philosophy for account management

My goal with each account is to make every client a champion for Kit Check. I think building strong relationships with clients and making each interaction a positive one results in a mutually beneficial relationship.

A memorable account management story

I think one of the great things about Kit Check is that each client has a team behind them. We work together to ensure that every client has what they need to optimize our system and that they have it as soon as possible. I’ve seen a client email come in with a question and we immediately had several people in the office trying to come up with a solution specifically tailored to this particular client. As a result, the client has a unique solution that best fits their needs. This is the best thing an account manager could see!

Interests outside of Kit Check

I grew up on the coast so I love boating, being at the beach, or any activity on or near the water. When I am unable to be near the water, I enjoy trying new restaurants in DC, being outside (as long as the temperature is over 60 degrees) or spending time with family and friends.

If you have to sing a karaoke song, what would you choose?

I would choose “You’re Gonna Love Me” by Jennifer Hudson from the Dream Girls Soundtrack, obviously. I tried singing this at my best friend’s bachelorette party in New York City and I was cut off mid-way through.

]]>http://kitcheck.com/2015/01/kit-check-account-manager-profile-morgan-deantonio/feed/0Efficient and Easy: Training the Kit Check Wayhttp://kitcheck.com/2015/01/efficient-easy-training-kit-check/
http://kitcheck.com/2015/01/efficient-easy-training-kit-check/#commentsTue, 20 Jan 2015 15:10:39 +0000http://kitcheck.com/?p=7012At Kit Check, the goal of our Deployment Team is to make sure every user is trained efficiently and effectively on Kit Check. We aim to leave our customers as experts on using the system. Learn more about the process from Lauren Kokernak.

At Kit Check, the goal of our Deployment Team is to make sure every user is trained efficiently and effectively on Kit Check. We aim to leave our customers as experts on using the system. Our team values customers’ time and understands that implementing a new technology solution can be intimidating, so we have worked hard to make the training effective, easy, and comfortable. Below are some insights into Kit Check’s training methodology.

Training Designed to be Easy

We have designed our application to be intuitive and easy to use. I can’t even count how many times I begin a new training where the user is hesitant to use Kit Check because he or she thinks of any technology as challenging. Within seconds of their first mouse click, users are at ease and I’ll hear things like: “Well, that was easy!”; “This is so simple!”; “It’s very intuitive, I can’t wait to start using it!”

We conduct hands-on training and keep it to groups of 2-3, giving every staff member the opportunity to log in and use the system. This allows for active learning and less opportunity for distractions that can occur in large groups. The training is quick too. It takes about 20 minutes to train a user in all the functions. Plus, we leave the users with documentation, videos, and 24-hour customer support to accommodate all styles of learning.

Training Designed for Efficiency

We know how busy hospital pharmacies are and how valuable each staff member’s time is. Kit Check wants to save our customers as much time as possible so we train and convert your pharmacy to Kit Check simultaneously, meaning you learn without losing time. Users learn how to use the application in real time and we incorporate problem-based learning, focusing on real tasks in the pharmacy. Users can put their new knowledge to use immediately. They get trained, trays and kits are sent to the floor, and backup inventory is prepared and stored. It is a win-win situation.

Training is Designed for Each User Role

At Kit Check, we understand the various roles our customers have in the pharmacy. Therefore, we tailor our training to each group. Ahead of the go-live, we discuss the workflow process with the project lead and incorporate this into our individual training sessions. For example, a kit may be assigned to a location within the hospital, or it may be bagged with seals, or must be placed in a special area within the pharmacy once it is complete. These special instructions all become part of the training process. We also identify the main functions people in each role will utilize in the Kit Check application and use relevant examples for each user type.

Training Includes Lessons Learned and Best Practices

Smiles After a Successful Kit Check Training!

With over 100 customers live with Kit Check, we have been able to reflect back on all of our implementations and identify the best practices and lessons learned from each. Our Deployment Team meets weekly to discuss each go-live and what worked well or what could have been done better. We pinpoint unique and common workflows and ways to use the application more efficiently in each pharmacy. From those efforts we have identified what works best for a wide variety of facilities. Ahead of a go-live, we walk through what training will look like with the pharmacy’s project lead and when we train, we help our customers with real examples so they can use Kit Check in ways that have worked well at similar sites.

The Kit Check Way

The Kit Check team understands hospital pharmacy staff and the pressures they face. That is an important aspect behind our efforts to make training efficient and easy. This approach has been successful so far but we are always looking for new ways to improve our training. If you have suggestions or, better yet, want additional training, our staff from deployment managers to account managers to customer support, are always here to help. Give us a call anytime at 786-548-2432 or 844-KIT-CHECK